Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Saturday's Expo Stage events included the judging for the Pro Bikini competition in the morning and the Woman's Olympia Qualifier Finals later that day in the John Bassett Theatre. Canada's largest multi-sport fitness expo took place over the May 26-28 weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre's north building. You can see more of the IFBB judging on my post here along with the OPA Championship judging.

You can almost smell the sweet, sweet ethanol fuel burning through the high performance twin turbo V6s as the cars whip through Exhibition Place. It won't be long before the month long track build begins and the 11-turn temporary street course starts to take shape. Honda Indy Toronto has started the 2017 single-day ticket sales for general admission and reserved grandstand seats. Fan Friday is still free with a voluntary donation to Make-A-Wish Canada courtesy of the Ontario Honda Dealers and until the end of May you can still get in on the May giveaways. Also available for sale are the two-day tickets including the Gold Level grandstand seats which also includes a paddock pass.

Toronto's SpeedFest runs from Friday, July 14 to Sunday, July 16, 2017 with NASCAR Pinty's Series Grand Prix of Toronto race as Saturday's race feature and the Verizon IndyCar Series race headlining Sunday's race card. "The 85-lap Verizon IndyCar Series race featuring Canadian fan favorite and recent "Dancing with the Stars" contestant James Hinchcliffe alongside last year's winner Will Power. Another Canadian driving hero Alex Tagliani will try to make it two wins in a row during Saturday's NASCAR Pinty's Series-sanctioned event, the Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto."

"Well, I'm really excited to get back in the streets of Toronto. Obviously, it was awesome to see how much the fans loved NASCAR back on the street course and the fight we had all the way up to the finish line," said Alex Tagliani, the defending race champion. "It's going to be exciting this year driving the Epipen Lowe's #18 car. With the competition level this year, I think the fans are going to be in for an amazing treat."

Bicyclists will return to the track on Thursday, July 13 for the Indy Cycling Challenge to raise money for Prostate Cancer Canada. Three divisions of Men, Women and Corporate Teams will ride 12 laps or almost 35km with each rider completing three laps.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

The judging took place on the expo stage and the finals took place later in the show. Canada's largest fitness expo took place May 26-28 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre north building and thousands packed the place over the weekend to check out the vendors, celebrities and bodybuilding/fitness competitions. Jodi Boam, pictured at top, takes third place in the competition. First the ladies come out individually, then they have pose in small groups, changing order and poses at the request of the judges.

Fans and cosplay make this convention second to none. Saturday was crazy busy but large crowds on Sunday also make this a good day to attend. Parking is best done offsite and take public transit or walk to the Congress Centre, otherwise you are stuck in traffic or without a place to park. I love how when you ask to take their picture they usually have a pose based on the anime character.

"Anime North: Canada's premier fan run Anime convention! Anime North is an anime convention located in Toronto, Canada that celebrates anime, manga, music, games and all other forms of Japanese Culture!Anime North will be the weekend of May 26 - 28, 2017 at the Toronto Congress Centre and International Plaza Hotel."

Saturday, May 27, 2017

In addition to the massive multi-sport fitness consumer trade show there are quite a few competitions happening over the weekend such as the OPA, IFBB and even arm wrestling. If it is fitness related they are competing here at the GNC Live Well Presents the Toronto Pro SuperShow My 27-28. The show is an opportunity for athletes to show and promote their sport to fans and newcomers alike. You can see photos from the OPA Provincial Championship judging on my post here.

The judging begins early with the women's events starting first: Fitness, Bikini, Figure, Physique and Bodybuilding before they turn Expo Stage over to the men. Around the expo you can find areas setup for crossfit, obstacle course, weight lifting, power lifting, pole fitness, arm wrestling and strongman. Sunday has a full schedule of events at the stage and on the expo floor including the Absolute Touch/Muscle Memory Bikini and Fit Men Model Search and Superkick'd Pro Wrestling.

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre north building is booming with long lineups to meet the celebrities and to get some free swag.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Canada's largest fitness expo is back and before the doors open on the May 27-28 show the judging has already started and there are lots of muscles. OPA is the Ontario Physique Association which is the province's governing body recognized by the CBBF and IFBB for bodybuilding, fitness, figure and bikini events. See the IFBB judging competitions on my post here.

The OPA holds over 20 events per year in Ontario making it and it's members the largest physique organizations in Canada. The age classes are Junior (under 21, 23 for Naturals), Masters Men (40+), Grand Masters Men (50+), Masters Women (35+), Grand Masters Women (45+) and Seniors. They also have divisions based on height and weight. Physique competitors wear black trunks, bodybuilders use the more colourful swim briefs, Mens fitness wear surf shorts and the women wear sparkly bikinis. Bodybuilding and Physique posing requires five mandatory poses; front double biceps, side chest, back double biceps, abdominals and thighs and favourite classic post.

Down in the John Bassett Theatre competitors in bodybuilding, physique, fitness and bikini categories take to the stage and strike a pose as determined by the judges. There were so many divisions and competitions that the event, which started at 3pm, lasted until around midnight.

The finals are in the theatre on Saturday starting at 9 am, just before the IFBB Pro Men's Open Bodybuilding judging and the Olympia Qualifier finals which begins at 6 pm.

At the expo main stage starting at 9:15 am on Saturday is the initial IFBB judging for Fitness, Bikini, Physique and Bodybuilding.

Many Canadians are waiting for the day when Marijuana becomes legal in June of 2018, until then the medical use of cannabis and the hope of a regulated market for personal use is gearing up the industry. This is largest cannabis trade show in Canada, only the second time for Toronto, and is on from May 26-28 with the business conference and industry day on Friday. PS the flyte crews were amazing, especially with their in flyte beverage carts.

Lift Expo wants to empower people to make informed decisions about the infamous herb. Friday is industry day then the weekend is open for general admission in the south building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Visitors seemed to be pretty mellow and the bartenders seem a tad under utilized. There were a lot of free rolling papers and lighters at many of the booths but if I had to guess most of the new growth will be in vaporizers as opposed to smoking the future legal product. Although I notice that TVAPE states in the Lift Expo guidebook that vaporizer ads will soon be outlawed.

You can come down for presentations, panel discussions and demonstrations of cooking, extraction and cultivation, or just look at the bongs and vapes. There are over 200 booths and 60 speakers taking part and everyone seems excited about the opening market. Dragon Brett Wilson had a session during the business conference on 'Success and the lost art of critical thinking' discussing a work/life balance and succeeding in life and business.

'How will a you access your cannibis in 2018?' Good question - the panel, above, featuring Elliot Guither, Omar Khan and Ivan Ross Vrana said that it wouldn't be at your local LCBO. The talks on the lift beleave main stage were very well attended and informative. On noon Sunday you can listen to Brent Reynolds and Tony Verzura talk about Cancer and Cannabis - the myths and the potential.

The increased water levels in Lake Ontario aren't only affecting the Toronto Islands they have impacted harbourfront along Queens Quay. So far the water has closed off part of the urban beach HTO Park and brought the waves onto the wave decks. If it keeps going, by my terrible calculations, it should be up to the observation deck of the CN Tower soon (I will recheck my numbers later).

The Spadina Wavedeck

You can also find some Tiki Taxi's parked in the docks as most of their business has dried up with the closing of the Toronto Islands to all but residents of Ward's Island. The Canoe and Kayak club doesn't have to use a ramp anymore, the dock is level with the concrete wharf. Unfortunately the rain is still in the forecast.

Doors Open

Scarborough Bluffs

Pride

Redball

Beaches

Graffiti

Lake Ontario

Nathan Phillips Square

Transportation

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Covering the adventure and excitement of life, sports, entertainment and more in Canada's largest city - with over 41 million content views and over 1.7 million YouTube views ... Join me as I explore the streets and venues that are found in our beautiful metropolitan community.